The Works of Lori Carlson

Seeing You – Part Twelve #NaNoWriMo2016

Rick heard the screams, but by the time he shook off the grogginess of sleep and made it to the bathroom, Jenna sat on the floor with Rayne in her arms, rocking back and forth. He slid down on the floor beside them and rubbed his eyes until they finally focused. He glanced at his watch. Four-twenty-two. He yawned and then shook his head to clear it.

“Another vision?” he whispered.

Jenna nodded. “Bad one, I think.”

“Is she up to talking about it?”

“Not yet. Give us a few minutes, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll make some coffee.” Rick stood up and patted Rayne on the shoulder before leaving the bathroom.

As he headed into the kitchen, Rick stumbled over his shoes and knocked his knee on the corner of the coffee table. He cursed under his breath and hobbled into the kitchen. Without much thought, he pulled a filter and coffee can out of the cabinet. Within minutes, the coffee perked and Rick pulled three cups from the shelf above the sink. He moved about the kitchen with the ease of one who’d spent a lot of time there. In truth, he had – most weekdays for nearly a year. They’d spent so much time in Fairfax that it just made sense for him to stay at Jenna’s during the week and go home to his apartment on the weekends. It was also cheaper than paying a hotel bill. He helped Jenna with the groceries and she let him sleep on the couch. He’d tried sleeping in that guest bed, but he was too tall for it and his feet had hung over the edge. The couch hugged his body like a comfortable pair of jeans.

While the coffee perked, Rick went into the living room, turned on a light and picked up his briefcase. He carried it back into the kitchen and opened it on the route-iron table. He took out his notebook and a pen and sat down at the table. As he jotted down notes, Rick wrinkled his forehead. He couldn’t remember everything Rayne had told them the last few days. Jenna probably had it all written down and correlated, but he didn’t dare retrieve her notebook. He’d learned that lesson the hard way years ago. Don’t touch Jenna’s stuff. The mere thought of it made his shoulders ache.

The alarm sounded on the coffee maker. Rick stood up and walked to the fridge, retrieved a jug of milk and placed it on the counter. He pulled a tray from a floor cabinet, put three cups and spoons on it, poured some milk into a cup and added it and a bowl of sugar to the tray. Finally, he poured the coffee. He carefully balanced the tray and wandered into the living room. Jenna and Rayne were curled up on the couch, snuggled under Rick’s blanket. He smiled at them as he entered the room and placed the coffee on the table.

“I think we can all use some of this,” he said as he sat down on the lower end of the couch. He put two spoons of sugar and a little milk into one cup, stirred it and handed it to Jenna. “How do you take yours, Rayne?”

Rayne raised her head off Jenna’s shoulder and sat up. “Just a little milk.”

Rick poured milk into a cup and handed it to Rayne. He lifted the last cup and took a sip. He sighed as a blissful smile creased his face. Then he remembered what Rayne had just gone through and frowned. He glanced over at her. She still bore bloodshot eyes. “Sorry. Coffee just makes me happy. I didn’t mean to diminish what you’re going through.”

Rayne waved her hand in the air. “Please, don’t change who you are because of me.”

Rick nodded and grinned at her, then looked down at his watch. It was nearing five and he was due in the office by six. He gulped the coffee and stood up. “I’d better grab a shower and shave.” He walked behind the couch, picked up his overnight bag and headed toward the bathroom.

As soon as Rick closed the bathroom door, Jenna put her cup on the table and twisted her body around on the couch. She pressed her back up against the armrest and she sat cross-legged, staring at Rayne.

“You want to talk yet?” she asked.

Rayne took another sip of the coffee and then nodded her head.

Jenna reached across the table and grabbed her notebook. “Good,” she said with a quick smile. “Was this about the African American girl?”

Rayne shook her head. “The other two girls. They are both still alive.”

“How do you know?”

“He invaded my dream in real time.”

“Are you sure?”

Rayne pulled up her pajama top and pointed to her side. A red whelp puckered on her skin.

Jenna ran a finger over the round spot. “What the hell? How’d that happen?”

“He zapped me with a cattle prod.”

“If he did it in your vision, why is it showing up on your body?”

“I don’t know. This is a completely new development. He’s using it on the girls too.”

Jenna raised a hand to her mouth and stared at Rayne’s side with wide eyes. “This has turned dangerous. How can we protect you against something like this?”

Rayne lowered her eyes. “I don’t know, but I have to see this through to the end. It’s the only way to make the visions stop.”

Jenna jotted down everything Rayne had just told her and then looked up at her. “Did you see anything new?”

“Not really. He keeps the room too dark. He did mention that he was trying to fatten up the girls for some reason. Gina is getting sicker. If he keeps feeding her junk food, she’ll go into a diabetic coma. He won’t listen to Sally. There’s something else I don’t get.”

“What do you mean?”

“If he is doing this because of a lost child, why is he treating the girls like animals?”

“That’s a good question,” Rick replied as he stood in the hallway. He rubbed his face with a towel and then tossed it over his shoulder. He walked into the living room and sat down in one of the chairs. “You mentioned a cattle prod?”

Rayne nodded. “He’s torturing the girls with it.”

“And Rayne,” Jenna said and pointed at Rayne’s side.

Rick leaned in to get a better look at the wound. “That came through your vision?”

“Yeah, and it stung like hell too.”

Rick rubbed his chin. “Damn. He couldn’t kill you through your vision, could he?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. This is all new.”

Rick picked up his shoes and put them on. He flipped the towel off his shoulder and stood up. He paced around the room and finally stopped behind the couch. He put the towel down and picked up his suit jacket. As he put it on, he glanced down at Jenna’s notes.

“Can you make me a list of the objects Rayne’s seen in her visions? Maybe we can trace some of them.”

Jenna jotted down cattle prod, muzzles and cages and handed the list to Rick. “If you weren’t so old, you could remember those things,” Jenna said with a playful grin.

“Just you wait. One day your memory will start fading too,” he joked back with a wink.

“Ha! Never,” Jenna laughed.

“Okay, ladies. I need to get out of here.” He walked into the kitchen and gathered his briefcase. When he walked back into the living room, he stood by the door, rubbing his chin again.

“Forgetting something?” Jenna asked him.

He raised a hand and smirked. “Indeed I am. Your sketch,” he said, looking at Rayne.

“Of course.” Rayne stood up and walked to the spare room, took the sketch out of her hobo bag and brought it to Rick.

As he turned to go out the door, he pointed back at Jenna. “Eight o’clock. Troy is expecting you both.”

Seeing You (a working title) is the story of Rayne Fallon, a witch with the power to see into the past and future, although not always accurately. She gets tangled up with FBI’s SA Rick Harris and SA Jenna Styles as they search for an 8 year old missing girl, thought to have been kidnapped by a Serial Killer.

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